If you are a fan of Bruce Campbell (which pretty much covers everyone with a soul, a good head on their shoulders, and supreme taste), then you will have spotted the actor s in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Campbell crops up in all three entries, first popping up in Spider-Man (2002), before re-appearing in Spider-Man 2 (2004), and then finally in Spider-Man 3 (2007).
However, unlike every other actor in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Campbell does not play the same role. In fact, across the three films he takes on three distinct parts.
So, why is Bruce Campbell in three Spider-Man movies? And more importantly, who is he supposed to be playing?
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Bruce Campbell in Spider-Man
OK, so to be clear: 2002’s Spider-Man was directed by Sam Raimi. Raimi is good friends with actor Bruce Campbell, so when Spider-Man was in production, Raimi asked Campbell to appear in the film in a cameo role.
Campbell appears only briefly in the movie, but his part is quite significant. He pops up early into the movie, during the wrestling sequence, playing the wrestling match announcer.
In this scene, Peter Parker is hoping to make some fast money, so he dons a makeshift costume to enter a wrestling match. It is here that he meets Bruce Campbell’s character, who introduces Parker to the audience.
During the scene, Peter asks the announcer to be introduced as ‘The Human Spider’, but Campbell’s character refers to Peter as ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ – much to Peter’s chagrin. Cambell’s role here is simply a cameo and not much more, but it is a comical appearance, and he is responsible for giving Spidey his name.
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Bruce Campbell in Spider-Man 2
When Campbell next appears in Raimi’s Spider-Man movie trilogy he plays an usher at a theatre. It is here that he once again crosses paths with Peter Parker.
In the scene, Peter is running late to a performance featuring Mary Jane Watson, but before he can enter the theatre the usher stops him – first by telling him to tie up his shoelace, then by telling him to straighten his tie, and then by telling him he is simply too late to enter.
The character is different to the one Campbell played in Spider-Man, so once again this is just a cameo role and nothing more. Once the role is over, Campbell is not seen or mentioned in the movie again.
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Bruce Campbell in Spider-Man 3
For Campbell’s third cameo he takes on the part of a maître d’ at a restaurant. The role is largely comical and allows Campbell’s character to spend a few moments with Peter Parker.
The interaction takes place at a restaurant, where Peter intends to propose to long-term girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson. In the scene, Peter enlists the help of the maître d’ to make the proposal special, but the proposal doesn’t go to plan.
Once again, Campbell’s character in this third film is different to his two previous roles.
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Are Bruce Campbell’s Spider-Man characters connected?
With each cameo, Campbell plays three separate characters. There is nothing to suggest he is playing the same role and Peter Parker never passes comment that he has met Campbell before – even though he interreacts with him from film-to-film.
So, are the three characters separate or are they meant to be the same person? Well, after three cameos, fans of the Spider-Man movie series began to speculate that Campbell’s characters could be connected.
As Campbell’s nameless characters only interact with Peter, it was suggested that he was specifically going out of his way to cause problems for Peter, leading fans to believe he could be a secret villain. And if the unproduced Spider-Man 4 had gone ahead (as originally planned) then fans may have received some kind of clarification about who Campbell was really playing across the three films.
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Bruce Campbell in Spider-Man 4?
Just to get everyone up to speed, Sony/Columbia Pictures had planned to make a fourth Spider-Man film after the release of Spider-Man 3, and some initial pre-production work began on the picture. However, the plug was pulled on the project before things got too deep and it never came to fruition (we got The Amazing Spider-Man films instead).
Yet, despite the project not becoming a reality, concept artist Jeffrey Henderson worked on Spider-Man 4 and produced a number of drawings depicting the villain, Mysterio, who was lined up to appear in the unproduced film. And in one of those drawings, Mysterio looked a great deal like Bruce Campbell.
So, were all of Campbell’s previous appearances in the Spider-Man movies linked? Was he playing Mysterio the whole time?!
Well, that’s certainly what fans like to suggest, and it’s a neat theory. However, according to Campbell, that’s simply not the case.
In an interview with Flickering Myth back in July 2019, Cambell downplayed rumours that he was set to take on the role of Mysterio. He said: “Do you know, Sam Raimi never sent like an email or a phone call saying, ‘hey Bruce, prepping for Spider-Man 4, what do you think about Mysterio?’ That conversation never happened.”
So, what can be taken from this? Well, it *could* be taken that Campbell was never lined up to play Mysterio in any of the movies, or it *could* be taken that Raimi had considered Campbell as Mysterio, but he simply never got around to asking the actor.
I believe it falls somewhere in between. I believe that in the Spider-Man trilogy Campbell was simply appearing in cameo roles, with each part differing from one movie to the next at the whims of the director, and purely just for fun.
With regards to Spider-Man 4, Henderson’s concept drawing suggests the idea of having Campbell play Mysterio was at least considered. However, as the film never went before cameras it would appear things never progressed beyond an idea.
Raimi and Campbell are friends, so it is possible the director never got around to asking Campbell to be a part of the film – he just assumed he would say yes. As for whether Campbell’s cameos would have been retconned to suggest he was always playing Mysterio the whole time, well that is open for debate and will remain the subject of fan theories for years to come.
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